Individuals are engaged by content and activities that are relevant and valuable to their interests, goals, and communities. This does not necessarily mean the situation has to be equivalent to real life, as fiction can be just as engaging to learners as non-fiction. It does, however, have to be relevant and authentic to learners’ individual and/or community goals and the instructional goals. Individuals are rarely interested in information and activities that have no relevance or value. In an educational setting, one of the most important ways educators recruit interest is to highlight the utility and relevance of learning and to demonstrate relevance through authentic, meaningful activities. It is a mistake, of course, to assume all learners will find the same activities or information equally relevant or valuable to their goals. To recruit all learners equally, it is critical to provide options that optimize what is relevant, valuable, and meaningful to the learner.

• Vary activities and sources of information so they can be:

  • Personalized and contextualized to learners’ lives
  • Culturally relevant and sustaining
  • Socially relevant
  • Age and ability appropriate
  • Appropriate for different racial, cultural, ethnic, and gender groups

• Design activities so learning outcomes are authentic, communicate to real audiences, and reflect a purpose that is clear to the participants.

• Provide tasks that allow for active participation, exploration, and experimentation.

• Invite personal response, evaluation, and self-reflection to content and activities.

• Include activities that foster the use of imagination to solve novel and relevant problems, or make sense of complex ideas in creative ways.